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Click on Table of Contents for organized posts, or just scroll down to start reading the latest update! Zombies. An apocalypse. Restricting ...

Monday, April 13, 2020

Chapter 4 - Midnight Picnics

Craig tried to quickly make a light breakfast, since Zoe's stomach was bugging her.
"I think I may be pregnant," she admitted over breakfast.  "The symptoms are all there."

The two happily made plans about extending their nursery.  Craig suggested her could scrounge around for another crib. "I can't wait to tell the guys at the soup kitchen!" he said excitedly.

"You really should wait until after my first trimester," Zoe warned. "You never know what could happen!"

The rest of the morning was a blur of chores and taking care of baby.  "The mess is driving me nuts!"
Working together, Craig and Zoe got the chores handled quickly.

"Where'd Yoshi go?" Zoe asked, glancing around the room.

The afternoons were Mommy & Daughter time.  Zoe usually tried to nap while Yoshi did, but her naps always felt cut short. 
Zoe loved spending this precious time with her daughter, though. 

Family skilling.

The morning sickness this pregnancy seemed to be worse than her first pregnancy.  She quickly cleaned up the toilet before she left the room.


Getting comfortable on the couch, she watched little Yoshi and Craig as they amused themselves with their toys.
Craig was an ever attentive husband, knowing that Zoe was sore and uncomfortable, so he made sure to rub her back as he passed her by and cleaned up around the house.  "Take it easy!" he told her.  "You'll need your energy!"

***

The Zombies were always lurking.
And sometimes, they even tried the door.

(This cracked me up.  Gretchen and Craig were apparently friends from Andres' short-lived stint in the hood.  I'd been getting notifications that Craig should call her sometime.  Uh, no thanks. I like his brain just fine where it is!  Apparently Gretchen thought a drop-by was warranted.  Be GONE Zombie! BE GONE!)

More evidence that Zombies have feelings! LOL

***

Zoe would be thankful when this morning sickness was over! It was her least favorite part of pregnancy. Wait, she mentally counted back the hours since her symptoms first exhibited.  It had been over 24 hours, shouldn't she be showing by now?

Wouldn't it be embarrassing if she just had a nasty case of food poisoning and wasn't pregnant at all?!  She hoped Craig hadn't said anything to his coworkers yet!
" I'M SO HUNGRY!" she railed at the refrigerator.  "Why won't it open?!"
"You're just tired, honey.  We can eat soon.  Until then, why don't you take a nap or do something to take your mind off it?"
"I'M SO HUNGRY!" she vented, ignoring her husband's advice.

Finally, at 12:01 am, Craig pulled out the sandwich makings and quickly made something for his hungry and hormonal wife to eat.

(She apparently still needed to tell him her suspicions that she was in fact NOT pregnant.)


Yoshi was an adorable toddler.
So clever and precocious.
"Come on, let's let daddy sleep in," Zoe said as she hoisted Yoshi up on her hip and headed towards the livingroom.
Quietly, Zoe worked on teaching Yoshi to walk.
Apparently not quiet enough.

"What is that smell?" he grumbled, having been woken from sleep by an awful stench.  He took a step towards the door and stepped right on it.  Dirty baby diaper. "WHO LEFT THE BABY DIAPER ON THE FLOOR?" he yelled.

Somehow, in the midst of the crazy toddler house that they'd become, Zoe had found time to put the finishing touches on her newest research into the Elderly and their decline in cognizance.


"Can you say 'reconstituted milk?" Zoe asked while Craig shook his head.

"What in the world are you teaching that girl?" he asked.
"It's never too early to start teaching them!" Zoe said indignantly.


"Daddy has to go to work," Craig said with a sigh.  "Come say bye bye to Daddy!"

Zoe hurried over and launched herself into Craig's arms.
With a whoop, Craig scooped her up and tossed her in the air.  "I'll see you soon," he promised.  "Be good for Mommy!"


While Yoshi napped, Zoe cleaned the kitchen.  It was a blessing and a curse that it was so small.
Although she was no longer a practicing doctor, the medical committee was pressuring her to continue her fascinating research on Zombie Anatomy, especially after she told them about her husband's friend-turned-zombie trying to come over for a visit. 

"Hi Mom!" Yoshi said. "Can I go play outside?"
Zoe glanced up at her daughter.  Sometimes it hit her out of nowhere how fast Yoshi was growing up!

This was getting ridiculous! Somehow a ZOMBIE got in Craig's carpool!  The moment the car stopped, he rushed inside and bolted the door.

Close the door Craig. That's embarrassing!

Lacking room in the trailer for an additional bedroom, they managed to build a small bed into the loft area by the windows for Yoshi to sleep.

Early mornings were quiet time spent on skilling. 
"I have an idea," Craig said.  "Let's all head to base for breakfast!"
"Hold my hand and stay close," Craig warned his daughter.  It was her first public outing and he worried about her safety.
Incidentally, work on the Sharps' upper floor got underway.  Two columns were just the start.

Yoshi lagged behind, staring in awe at the towers and military stuff at the base.  "Are there people with guns here?" she asked out of the blue, followed by, "Can I go up in a tower?"

Zoe shook her head. "Come on, let me show you the soup kitchen."
Craig went to the back immediately and began canning.
He still had to get the hang of it, he thought with chagrin as some of the soup spilled over.  Sighing, he grabbed the mop.

Meanwhile, Zoe was busy introducing her daughter to the townsfolk lingering around the kitchen. 
Soon, the adults' attention shifted from telling Yoshi how she was cute as a button to talk about more serious topics like community politics.  It was boooooooring, Yoshi thought, wishing there were kids her age she could play with.

She'd seen a pretty cool obstacle course outside. She knew she couldn't play on it, but she could look at it!  Eagerly, she ran outside.



After spending much of the day at the soup kitchen catching up with everyone, Zoe went in the back to tell Craig that it was time to head home.

"I'm right in the middle of this, hon," he said.  "Can't you wait a little bit longer?"
She shook her head.  "Yoshi is exhausted.  Apparently she snuck into the barracks and was bouncing on all the beds."

Craig sighed.  "Give me 2 shakes.  I'll walk you guys home."

After making sure his girls were home safe in the trailer, Craig headed back to the soup kitchen to finish up. 

After a restful nap, they had a light lunch and made plans to play a game. 
"Why don't we go to base more?" Yoshi asked.

Zoe tossed it back.  "Because it's not safe to travel every day."  She didn't want to scare Yoshi by telling her about Zombie attacks.

"Then why does Daddy go every day?" Yoshi countered.

"Daddy has someone pick him up, so it's safer."

"So why can't they just pick us up to take us?" her daughter persisted in her line of questioning.

Zoe sighed and she tossed the ball.  "Do you know how long it would take if they stopped to pick up everyone in town to take them to base?"

Yoshi stopped and considered this.  "I don't know. How many people are in town?" she asked thoughtfully.

Zoe laughed and shook her head.  Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
"Quick! Inside!" Zoe shouted at Yoshi, startling her.

She balked.  "What is it, Mommy?" she asked, looking around.

Zoe grabbed her daughter's shoulders and herded her to the front door.  "Inside! Now!"
"What was it Mommy? Was it a Zombie? Can I see?" Yoshi was full of questions and tried to run to the window.
"Yoshi, when I tell you to do something, you need to do it, not ask questions!" Zoe lectured, her heart beating double-time in her chest with surging adrenaline.

Craig was joined by his coworker Lily on his route home.  "I just live across the street," she said reasonably.  We can hitch a ride together."
The moment his feet touched the sidewalk, Yoshi came barreling outside, crashing into him for a hug.  "Guess what Daddy! We saw a Zombie today! Actually, Mommy saw it. I didn't. She made me go inside," she rattled on with hardly a breath between sentences.  "Isn't that cool?!"

Craig smiled fondly at her, then reminded her to greet everyone.  "Oh, sorry," she said, turning to the lady.  "I'm Yoshi. Nice to meet you."

Lily laughed, turning towards Craig.  "She's adorable! How old is she?"
Yoshi sighed. Adults did this all the time.  They started talking about her as though she wasn't there.  Daddy was telling the lady all about something she asked the other day.  It was a good question, though!  If a Zombie bites a human, they turn into a Zombie.  So, if a Sim bit a Zombie, would it turn into a Sim?

Daddy's friend reacted the same way as her parents, laughing as though she'd said something funny and glancing down at her and telling her how cute she was!

With a huff, Zoe angrily thought, Adults are weird!
She turned her attention to making a snowman while the adults did their boring talk.
Craig turned and watched Yoshi building a snowman.  "It's late.  I should get Yoshi inside and to bed," he told Lily.

Lily clapped him on the shoulder.  "It was fun talking.  I'll see you tomorrow!" she said, heading across the street.
"Come on, Yoshi. Time for a warm shower and then bed!"

"Good night, Mr. Snowman," Yoshi said politely, unintentionally mimicking her neighbor.  "I'll see you tomorrow!"

2 more columns were added to the second story so that Craig could put up the roof.  When he cut a hole in the roof for the ladder, Zoe had complained about the snow that was able to drift in.  The hole still let in a chilly draft, but at least there was no more snow on the floor!

Really? You have nothing better to gossip about than your old college cafeteria lady and the ONE time she burned your lunch?!

It surprised Zoe how quickly she finished writing her latest report.  It wasn't a study regarding medical findings, so much as a case study regarding the community lore surrounding Zombies.
While the Simnation Journal of  Medical Arts refused to publish it due to it's lack of medical relavence, it was still well received by the general public. 


As was the case more and more often, the Sharps enjoyed an early am breakfast at shortly past midnight.  "Isn't our Midnight Picnic fun?!" Zoe brightly asked, kicking Craig under the table and indicating with her eyes that he should play along.

"Oh! Yes! I sure do love waking up at midnight to finally eat!" he answered in the same fake, pretend-nothing-is-wrong tone.

NO! That was good oatmeal in that bowl! I mean, it was spoiled, but there were two bowls left in there!  Bad neat freak Zoe! BAD!

He really needed to start looking IN the car before he got in it!  Craig slammed the car door shut and rushed to the safety of his trailer.
The Zombie seemed put out that he couldn't get inside.  Thank goodness Craig locked the door!


"Is it almost time for our Midnight Picnic?" Yoshi asked wearily.  "I'm so hungry, Mommy!"

Zoe checked the clock.  "It is.  Come on, let's play a few games of Red Hands!"

The distraction seemed to work.
Sandwiches made, the family gathered around in the livingroom and pretended to be having a fun, picnic outing and talked about fanciful, funny topics to try to keep their spirits up.

Although they pretended it was great fun, the adults were growing more and more worried by the lack of food in the household!


*AN - Oh my goodness! They keep cleaning up the spoiled food while there is food left! It may not be yummy and you may get food poisoning - but it's better than dying of hunger! EAT IT!

I have always hated the culinary career reward.  How in the world do I work in a chocolate making machine into my story?  Apparently, by turning it into a canning station! Lol.  It makes a lot of sense in this setting, so I rolled with it. 😂

Also, I COMPLETELY thought Zoe was pregnant and didn't have them Try for Baby again until it was too late! I could've kicked myself when I realized she actually just had food poisoning.  Although, with their food problems, I'm kinda glad there isn't another mouth to feed!

4 comments:

  1. I thought Zoe was pregnant too but I guess eating all that rotten food is just not that great for a Sim!
    I love that you are incorporating Andres & Gretchen into the story still.
    You're doing a great job with the canning station. Yoshi had fun at that place eh? She's growing up great all things considered!

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    1. Who would have thought food poisoning would mimic pregnancy symptoms. Lol. I'm just embarrassed it took so long for me to realize she wasn't pregnant. I expect Zoe is more embarrassed - she's a doctor!

      I love seeing Andres and Gretchen! I might be slightly impartial,though!

      Yoshi bounced on the bed the entire time and wore herself out. It's hard being a kid in a world with no kid stuff! Even harder when you have to wake up at midnight to have breakfast so you don't die of starvation!

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  2. I thought Zoe was pregnant too...I was waiting to see how this new baby would fit in the house.

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    1. Lol. She would be fit in very carefully! The furniture arrangement in this house is like Tetris!

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